This past week, my family experienced a unique tragedy and heartbreak. One of my mom's horses gave birth to a filly late on April 1, April Fool's Day. My mom and step-dad found her early the next morning.
On April 2, they spent the day with me in San Antonio, almost two hours away from home and their newborn. When they arrived home later that day, the poor little filly was on the ground with a huge gash on her neck.
They later found out that the stallion, upset because the baby was not his and eager to get to the baby's mother, grabbed her by the neck and threw her to the ground. He probably would have killed her had my parent's faithful dog not intervened.
Heartbroken by this sudden tragedy, my mom and step-dad did their very best to nurse the poor little girl back to health. They did everything in their power to do, including loading her in the car and taking her to an emergency vet. They spent countless hours with her, doctoring her wounds, feeding her, and comforting both her and her mother.
In Frida's short life, my mom and step-dad grew to love her dearly, as one would love a newborn human baby in crisis. What a terrible way to be welcomed into this world.
My heart broke for them. They are not young. Taking care of a healthy horse, let alone an injured horse, is no easy feat for my aging parents. They are still in good health, but they do not have the energy and stamina at 70 that they had even ten years ago. I worried for them in so many ways.
My siblings and I prayed for the life of the little filly and for the hearts of our parents. During church on Sunday, I considered whether or not to fill out a prayer request card. I hesitated for a very brief moment, wondering if it was silly to ask our pastors to pray for a horse born less than three days before.
The moment was fleeting. After all, I remembered how often I have begged others to pray for my baby girl, Bailey, whenever she got sick or injured. I remembered a story I once read online at http://christiancourier.ca/ about a young boy who rose his hand during prayer time at church asking for prayers for his dog. The article was from the perspective of a preacher, talking about the importance of prayer in all its forms. It may seem silly to us. After all, there were major life catastrophes to pray for at the time. But for this boy, the dog was a major prayer concern.
And again, while reading Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back by Charles Swindoll, he tells a story of a young boy who asks his parents if they can pray for a shirt during their family prayer time. So, every night, they pray for a shirt in his size. One day, the mother receives a call from a company with an overstock of merchandise and has twelve shirts in his size they want to donate. Talk about an answer to prayer!
Anyway, why is it silly to pray for a newborn filly? God loves all creatures, great and small, and cares about their lives. That alone is reason enough to pray and ask others I trust to join me in prayer. More than that, though, I love my mother and step-father. I love my step-brother and step-sister and nieces who are also affected by this tragedy. My love for them and knowing they are hurting is ample reason to pray.
I wanted nothing more than to give my mom a great big hug. When my step-dad said he felt like this was God’s great big Aprils Fools joke on them, I wanted nothing more than to squeeze him tight and assure him that God loves him and that little filly more than anything in this world and that He is hurting right along with them, not playing some evil trick on them. God is not spiteful.
I knew I could not be there to comfort them, but I knew God could be. And that is the biggest reason to pray.
Baby filly, originally going to be named Negra if a girl and Midnight if a boy. After the accident, they called her Frida, after Frida Kahlo, a Mexican painter known for her self-portraits, a very independent and strong woman who suffered from lifelong health problems.
Facebook update from my mom on the morning of April 5, 2016:
"An update on our Filly. We had to put her to sleep. Our vet said she would never be able to stand, walk or even sir. I was with her and loving her when she went to sleep. But now she is running in heaven. My heat is broken but I must accept His will."
Had Frida survived, they were going to call her Lagrimas (tears).
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